By Rob Potter
LOCH SHELDRAKE — August 11, 2006 – The Sullivan Generals Summer Basketball League began its playoffs earlier this week.
Six area girls’ teams competed in the league this summer, playing evening games at Sullivan County Community College’s Paul Gerry Fieldhouse.
Downsville and Livingston Manor, finished first and second, respectively, in the regular season standings. As a result, each team received a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
In the regular season, Downsville and Manor each finished with a 6-1 record, while Eldred and Liberty each posted a 3-4 record. Roscoe had a 2-5 record and Tri-Valley went 1-6.
After tie-breakers were used, Downsville was seeded first for the playoffs, Manor was seeded second, Eldred third and Liberty fourth.
In Tuesday night’s quarterfinal round, Eldred played Tri-Valley and Liberty squared off against Roscoe.
Eldred Tops T-V
In the evening’s first quarterfinal contest, Eldred defeated T-V by a final score of 43-19.
Eldred grabbed an early lead, but T-V rallied at the end of the first half.
In the final two minutes of the stanza, T-V’s Laurel Wilson swished a pair of free throws and teammate Kaitlyn Exner added another foul shot to cut the Eldred lead to just three points (14-11) at halftime.
With 14:02 remaining in the game, T-V’s Allison Bowers was fouled while attempting a shot. She made one of her subsequent free throws to cut the Eldred advantage to a single point at 18-17.
But Eldred responded with a 21-2 run over the next 10 minutes to take a commanding 39-19 advantage.
Jessie Bisland scored 13 points during that scoring barrage to help Eldred post its victory.
Liberty Holds Off Roscoe
The evening’s second quarterfinal game was closer than the first.
Liberty held an 18-7 lead at halftime and led by as many as 14 points in the second half. But a determined Roscoe squad closed the gap to 34-29 with 41 seconds remaining.
However, Roscoe could not score any more baskets in those final 41 seconds and Liberty held on for a five-point victory.
With 3:55 left, Liberty’s Ceara Williams scored inside the lane while being fouled. The ball went into the hoop and Williams swished her free throw to give Liberty a 33-24 lead.
But Roscoe’s Amanda Huggins scored 20 seconds later to cut the Liberty lead to seven points. A minute after that, teammate Sky Dutcher knocked down a foul shot to make it a six-point game (33-27).
With exactly one minute left, Liberty’s Tynessa Washington made a free throw to push the lead back to seven points.
Nineteen seconds later, Huggins scored what would be the final basket of the game.
Semifinals, Final Scheduled
The league’s semifinals were slated to be held last night at Paul Gerry Fieldhouse. Livingston Manor was scheduled to face Liberty at 6 p.m., while Downsville and Eldred were set to meet in the second semifinal contest at 7:15 p.m.
The winners of those games are slated to meet in tonight’s championship game, which is set to begin at 7 p.m. at the fieldhouse.